Tor is an encryption and routing network designed to mask your location, identity, and browsing history online. It has proven useful in protecting journalists, activists and whistleblowers who wish to remain anonymous online.
Abacus Market was a hidden service on Tor network that offered various products and services from illegal drugs and weapons to stolen personal data and hacking tools. Users were only able to access it using an onion URL.
What is an Onion Site?
Underlying the dark web are onion sites, which use layers of encryption to conceal users’ identities and locations. Accessible only via Tor’s network of volunteer-operated servers known as relays, these onion sites provide strong privacy protection and anonymity for both users and websites alike; hence the name. Tor can also be misused for illicit activities like trading stolen personal data illegally.
People may associate the dark web with criminal activities, but its many legitimate applications also include whistleblower platforms like SecureDrop and anonymous messaging services like Telegram – tools which offer crucial privacy protection and reduce risks from surveillance by law enforcement and other entities.
Tor-only sites (.onion sites) are typically only accessible via Tor’s network; however, some offer an alternate address to non-users as well. Websites which create a.onion version can advertise this fact to Tor users by taking advantage of a feature within Tor browser that indicates when someone visits that page from onion service: the browser displays a purple suggestion pill in its URL bar that indicates availability on onion services.
How to Find an Onion Site
Tor is an extensive network of volunteer servers that use encryption and routing technology to obscure Internet traffic in order to conceal users’ identities, making it difficult for authorities to trace illicit activities back to their source or track user locations. Furthermore, this technology also enables accessing websites otherwise unavailable through regular browsers; including whistleblower platforms like SecureDrop or OnionShare; metadata-free chat services; file sharing services; and safer ways of browsing and downloading popular websites.
Tor is a fast and secure web browser available for Windows, Mac and Linux that allows access to Onion sites. This browser features tracking protection as well as supporting various web browsing protocols – an ideal choice for everyday use in conjunction with VPN services, as it provides additional privacy protections.
For an onion site to appear in Tor Browser’s URL bar, enter its address into it and click Connect. If a website fails to load or an error occurs when browsing it, try searching instead or contact its administrator immediately.
Even though many associate the Dark Web with illegal activities, there are also many useful services offered through it. Examples include:
How to Access an Onion Site
Tor-connected onion sites provide the highest standard of online privacy available today. Traffic is encrypted end-to-end so no extra eyes can monitor or save your activity or browsing history; targeted ads also no longer appear; plus, location won’t affect what sites or how quickly they load.
Onion websites use an encryption technique called onion routing, which hides their users’ connection origin and address. They can only be accessed with special software like Tor browser.
To create an onion site, the server owner first generates both a public key and private key, before mapping the public key with a cryptographic hash function to produce an apparently random string of characters that has to be signed using their private key – thus authenticating their onion address.
Users can be sure that they are connecting to the correct website without depending on external verification methods like certificate authorities. Furthermore, this gives website operators an effective means of monitoring traffic.
Onion sites can be best accessed with a dedicated Tor browser; however, you may also use DuckDuckGo – a search engine with privacy in mind and which acts as a Tor browser plugin – or Brave’s built-in Tor browser that includes DuckDuckGo as well.
What Are Onion Sites?
While search engines like Google can index surface web sites, onion sites must be manually accessed using Tor browser or other specialized software to be accessible. Their name derives from their use of layers of encryption that protect an identity and location of websites like an onion. Tor (The Onion Router) is a network of volunteer servers which encrypt Internet traffic before routing it through multiple relays before reaching its final destination, making it more difficult for authorities to track user activity or identify website owners.
Onion sites help combat censorship by providing people living under restrictive regimes with access to websites otherwise blocked or filtered, making life easier for journalists, activists and those wanting to protect their online privacy. They’re used by journalists, activists and people looking to maintain anonymity online – although criminals sometimes use anonymity to gain entry through marketplaces that sell drugs, weapons, personal information leaks and hacker tools.
Onion services are an essential element of Tor’s global network and bring many advantages to people around the globe. Riseup, a volunteer-run collective that supports social justice communities, utilizes an onion site as part of its secure chat and email services in order to facilitate like-minded people mobilizing more efficiently without fearing surveillance and censorship. Anyone can use it, though its utility becomes especially invaluable under oppressive regimes where their identities and activities may be regularly monitored.
